Minivation

Well done and thanks for sharing @201er! After about 60 hours flying the 201 I'm starting to feel comfortable really honing the landing technique in the Mooney, especially in terms of getting the touchdown point spot-on. A while ago I used to compete as a spot lander with NIFA and I learned a ton from that experience ... plus, it was a great feeling being able to consistently hit +/- 10ft as long as the weather wasn't ridiculously crazy. Albeit, this was in the Cessna 150 and 172 of course. After college, I started fly the PA-28 too, so after I got comfortable in that plane, I starte

Thanks for the Pirep on this, @Jakes Simmons. The hypothesis about the magnetized tubing is interesting - I'm curious how much of an effect that would play. I haven't installed an AV-30 myself, but I've heard plenty of reports from operations of just about every type (Cessna, Piper, Mooney, Beech, Vans, etc.) about the precession issue. My local FBO has them installed in their 172s and they've been battling the same issue themselves. None of the AV-30 manuals seem to reference any detailed operational theory so it really bugs me not knowing exactly what the source of this issue is.

At least this much is true. Operationally speaking, most people just say [City name] [facility] in their radio calls so for most pilots, I don't think it's going to be that big of a deal. However, the stupid part about this whole thing is that it's going to cost millions of taxpayer dollars to rebrand everything related to the airport and to re-mark all the signage on the road, just to name two of what's gonna need to happen. Of course, "millions of dollars" is pocket change in terms of government spending, but even then, why choose a name that is so polarizing? Regardless of political af

Im not as irked at the name changing itself as much as the fact that they keep naming these airports after politicians. I don't care if they're blue or red or whatever - I just don't like politicians, period. Who knows, Reid himself might get "cancelled" a few years down the road too. Just name it Las Vegas Intl and call it a day. Jeez.

If you ask me on the other hand, I personally like toggle switches better because I find them easier to actuate. They're also easier to source & replace compared to rocker switches, especially if the rockers were custom labelled. That said, the Mooneys do use breakered switches, in other words, the switches also act as a circuit breaker. The TE / Potter&Brumfield W31 series switches are a popular choice for breakered toggle switches in GA.

I'm afraid there is no "easy" adjustment of the nomenclature lighting; the only way to get them to a brighter level is to input a higher voltage at J2 Connector, Pins #6 and 7, ideally controlled via the lighting rheostat. Assuming your M20C uses a 14V system, when 0 volts is applied to J2 pins 6 & 7, then nomenclature lighting is off, but at 12 volts, nomenclature lighting is a full intensity. I'm not sure what exactly your J2 Pins 6 & 7 are connected to, but I have noticed not many avionics installers out there are thoroughly diligent with regards to properly hooking up the avio

Unless I'm going crazy ... don't GTN's all have a physical -D-> key?

A couple of questions pop into mind: Was the red X only over the attitude indicator or did it fail both attitude and heading? Did the failure follow any other anomalies or occur during any significant weather (e.g. gusty winds, turbulence)? From my experiences as an avionics tech, the Aspen devices constantly cross-check between all the primary flight info (i.e. airspeed, altitude, vertical speed, heading, pitch & bank, slip/skid, etc.) and if one or some of these parameters seem out of whack, then the unit will fail the "reasonability test" and will consequently fail the e

I am facing a similar issue, classified as "heavy seep" per Mooney Mx Manual, in the very same spots as you mentioned, plus a few more locations. The owner of the plane has a slot scheduled with a resealing shop later this year, but I'm not sure if the plane will hold up until then. As an A&P, I'm heavily considering doing some local repairs myself, but the Mx Manual doesn't seem to mention any precautions on purging out the wing of vapors. Maybe I'm overly paranoid, but having heard of some horror stories, the last thing I want is a wing exploding in my face. For those that did this

Ah, I almost could have been there yesterday too. I was too busy buttoning up the plane after I had it in pieces in order to fix a fuel leak in the belly. Maybe next week.

I myself contracted The Sickness™ back over Thanksgiving. The sequence of events of how I realized I had the disease was a real blessing. At the time, the Mooney was down for Mx so I was borrowing a friend's Cherokee to fly from VA to TX for a business-related trip. I woke up early AM and was feeling really groggy already but I am most definitely not a morning person so I didn't think much of it. I took off and headed west for my first leg but the headwinds that day were terrible (40-50kts @ 4000), so 40 minutes into the trip, I said "fu** it", turned back around, made it back to home base in

Just like a lot of things in life, experience and credibility, which are qualitative, can be approximated, but not quantified by using some numbers and metrics. Someone can gain x hours of flight time but the quality of their experience will vary immensely whether they spent all that time doing touch and goes at their local Class G airport versus trekking around the country into cities big and small, altitudes low and high, VMC and IMC, you name it... And then even if they've checked all the "to do" boxes aforementioned, it really boils down to their aptitude to absorb those experiences and to

I'm afraid I've only been there (Clemson) a grand total of 3 hours, plus a few minutes since I've driven by it a few times on I-85. On the particular trip I mentioned my friends and I eventually discovered Cook-Out (a burger chain). Although I enjoyed it at the time, I honestly can't recommend it since their burgers now give me terrible stomachaches. I'm not sure what kind of food Clemson would have, especially considering it's really a college town, so I can only expect most of the restaurants there would be geared towards catering lower-priced eats for college students. I'm sure you've

When I lived in Charlotte NC, I flew out to Clemson SC to get myself some Raising Cane's ... only to find out the restaurant was part of Clemson University's campus and they were closed for the summer break. That day probably ranks high up on my "saddest days" list.

That's exactly my thought too. Don't get me wrong - I love Continental engines as much as Lycomings but in the Trophy 221ES conversion, the engine swap also entails a custom fiberglass cowling (and a very heavy one at that!) and custom tuned exhaust system. Unfortunately in the specimen I fly, we recently got the exhaust overhauled, but during the overhaul process, I suspect some dimensions got inadvertently modified. Even after taking the exhaust off, sending it back to the O/H welding shop, getting it reworked (which took a dandy long time) , repairing the fiberglass damage (exhaust had burn